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Thursday, April 28, 2011

The following piece was co-written by myself and the outstanding journalist/blogger Alex Kane and was originally published onMondoweissunder the headline: "Zuckerman rag prints bald-faced lies on upcoming flotilla to Gaza."

I have added some more of my own observations on the New York Daily News editorial below.

It comes as no surprise that a newspaper owned by Mort Zuckerman, an ardent Zionist, would be anti-Palestinian and that it would strongly oppose efforts to break the Israeli naval blockade by sending a flotilla of ships to Gaza. But a recent editorial printed by the Zuckerman-owned New York Daily News is a particularly egregious example of U.S. media's aversion to the facts on Israel/Palestine. The bald-faced lies--which follow recent Israeli pronouncements about the "terrorists" organizing the upcoming international flotilla to break the Israeli blockade--printed would be laughable only if it wasn't going to be read by thousands of people.

The editorial states:

Sponsors of the flotilla are happily playing with fire, as they did a year ago in sailing into the blockade under the guise of delivering medicines and the like to Gaza. In fact, some of those ships carried suicidal fighters instead of useful goods. Nine of the brigands died when Israeli commandos were forced to board and came under assault.

To claim that those aboard the Mavi Marmara were the aggressors is to completely invert reality. The attack was conducted in international waters after Israel cut off all communications from the ships and surrounded the flotilla with over 20 naval vessels and warships, along with multiple helicopters. In addition to the 45 highly-trained and heavily-armed commandos who rappelled onto the largest ship, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, murdering 9 civilians and wounding about 60 more, about 650 other Israeli troops, including surveillance and support troops alongside those who actually boarded the ships, took part in the illegal assault on the flotilla.

And then there's these howlers:

No one of any credibility disputes that Israel's blockade is legal under international law. In coordination with Egypt, Israel barred sea-going shipments into Gaza in 2009 after years of Palestinian mortar and rocket attacks on Jewish soil.

As a board of inquiry put it:

"Israel imposed the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip for military-security reasons, which mainly concerned the need to prevent weapons, terrorists and money" from entering.

The UN has recognized the blockade's legitimacy under international law. Now, it must prevent this perilous propaganda ploy.

First of all, the naval blockade has been in place since 2007, along with the land and air blockade--not 2009 as the editorial claims. The "board of inquiry" the Daily News refers to is the Turkel Commission, the name for the Israeli investigation into the flotilla events--hardly a neutral source of facts about the blockade of Gaza.

And finally, it appears that Zuckerman's newspaper likes to make up facts. The UN has not "recognized the blockade's legitimacy under international law." In fact, various UN reports have labeled the blockade illegal. The UN fact-finding mission on the 2008-09 Gaza conflict, known as the Goldstone report, stated that the blockade was a form of collective punishment and that it was therefore in "violation of the provisions of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention." The UN report on the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara also clearly states that the blockade is illegal. In 2009, the Associated Press reported that "U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay has accused Israel of violating the rules of war with its blockade stopping people and goods from moving in and out of the Gaza Strip."

*****

Alex Kane, a freelance journalist based in New York City, blogs on Israel/Palestine and Islamophobia in the United States at alexbkane.wordpress.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.

In addition to the points made above, the Daily Newseditorial is littered with deliberate falsehoods, absurd implications, and libelous accusations. Even the most cursory research reveals the shameful ignorance and heavy propaganda of the authors and their despicable intent.

Among the errors is the claim that the "only goal" of the 2011 flotilla "is to deliver humanitarian supplies to residents of Gaza," which the editorial authoritatively declares "is a lie."

Clearly, the editors who wrote this piece of garbage know nothing of the actual goals of the flotilla organizers. For instance, the Free Gaza movement, which has sent numerous boats to Gaza in the past few years, states on their website that their intention is "to break Israel's illegal stranglehold on1.5 million Palestinian civilians." Furthermore, they continue that, along with their "coalition partners, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza; IHH -- the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief; the International Committee to End the Siege on Gaza; Ship to Gaza Sweden and Ship to Gaza Greece," they seek to defy "Israel's criminal closure of the Gaza Strip" and "sail as an expression of citizen nonviolent, direct action, confronting Israel's ongoing abuses of Palestinian human and political rights."

Free Gaza's mission statement reveals, contrary to what the Daily News ignorantly claims, the actual goals set forth by the movement. Here is what they state:

We want to break the siege of Gaza. We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation. We want to uphold Palestine's right to welcome internationals as visitors, human rights observers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, or otherwise.

We have not and will not ask for Israel’s permission. It is our intent to overcome this brutal siege through civil resistance and non-violent direct action, and establish a permanent sea lane between Gaza and the rest of the world.

Doesn't sound much like their "only goal is to deliver humanitarian supplies."

Likewise, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, which "advocates the fundamental right of the Palestinian people in Gaza to live in peace and dignity without being subjected to any form of collective punishment such as the cutting of supplies of food, fuel and medicine or their denial of free access to travel outside Gaza Strip," declares its own goals this way:

[The ECESG] urges the participation of politicians and non-politicians alike to honor their duty to stop the suffering of one and a half million people trapped in Gaza under the most inhumane conditions. Supported by international and humanitarian law, the ECESG encourages all peoples of conscience and human rights advocates to intensify their efforts to highlight this life-threatening issue and end the catastrophe.

The U.S. Boat to Gaza describes the upcoming flotilla as an "international effort to break the blockade of Gaza and to end the occupation of Palestine." Additionally, as an American delegation, the US Boat believes that "from the deck of The Audacity of Hope, we will be in a powerful and unique position to challenge U.S. foreign policy and affirm the universal obligation to uphold international law and human rights."

In their mission statement, the U.S. Boat organizers declare that they "are taking action to help break the blockade which is suffocating the lives of the people of Gaza and denying them their liberty" and are joining "others from across the world to support an end to the collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza."

All flotilla organizers stress, as the U.S. Boat does, that "we agree to adhere to the principles of nonviolence and nonviolent resistance in word and deed at all times." Naturally, the editors of the Daily News are uninterested in these inconvenient facts, labeling the flotilla vessels "warships in disguise" and describe flotilla organizers as "terrorists...disguised as humanitarians." Without providing any evidence, the article presents as fact the outrageous suggestion that the "ships carried suicidal fighters instead of useful goods." Not only is the assertion that Hamas and al Qaeda operatives were aboard the flotilla ships untrue, it has been repeatedlyproven false by journalists such as Max Blumenthal.

While the editorial describes the flotilla organizers as "Islamic extremists" seeking to smuggle weapons "under the guise of delivering medicines and the like to Gaza," such allegations are absurd. The "brigands" it refers to are the nine unarmed Turkish citizens (including one Turkish-American) who were executed by Israeli soldiers in international waters.

The writers also state, without hyperbole, that the nine activists "died when Israeli commandos were forced to board and came under assault." Died? Forced to board?Came under assault? The nine passengers killed during the Israeli assault didn't just "die," they were shot to death by Israeli troops who illegally boarded their ship. To claim that the Israeli commandos "came under assault" is to outrageously invert the roles of aggressors and victims.

Last year, an UN report on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre found, not only that the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza is illegal under international law and constitutes collective punishment (which is a war crime), but also:

"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law."

The report also found "clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health," and stated that Israel had seriously violated its obligations under the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the "right to life...torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment...right to liberty and security of the person and freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention...right of detainees to be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person...[and] freedom of expression."

Additionally, in July 2010, domestic Israeli policy and its occupation conduct had been found to violate these very same statutes (among others) by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Based on both "forensic and firearm evidence," the fact-finding panel concluded that the killing of Turkish-American citizen Furkan Doğan and five other Turkish citizens by the Israeli troops on the Mavi Marmara "can be characterized as extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions."

Furthermore, even propagandistic Zionists such as New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner has admitted that all 10,000 tons of aid goods aboard the Mavi Marmaraflotilla's cargo ships was "unquestionably humanitarian in nature." The aid included 6,000 tons of cement, more than 2,000 tons of iron, 100 prefabricated houses, 500 wheelchairs, crutches, medical equipment, wood and glass for building, electric generators, water purifiers, a mobile dental care facility, and food. The cargo had also been confirmed not to be transporting any weaponry by authorities before its departure.

Another aid ship, the MV Rachel Corrie which carried 550 tons of cement, 20 tons of paper for printing school books, 25 tons of school supplies, 12 tons of sports equipment and 150 tons of medical supplies, was also illegallyseized by the Israeli Navy a few days after the Mavi Marmara massacre.

The need for medicine and health care supplies in Gaza is very real, despite what the editors of the Daily News may want their readers to believe. Since June 2007, "the number of Palestine refugees unable to access food and lacking the means to purchase even the most basic items, such as soap, school stationery and safe drinking water, has tripled" and over 80 UN and aid agencies agree that "the formal economy in Gaza has collapsed." At the end of 2009, a UN report found that "insufficient food and medicine is reaching Gazans, producing a further deterioration of the mental and physical health of the entire civilian population since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against the territory," and "blamed the blockade for continued breakdowns of the electricity and sanitation systems due to the Israeli refusal to let spare parts needed for repair get through the crossings." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has "called on Israel to end the blockade of Gaza," stating, "In particular, the Government of Israel should allow unimpeded access to Gaza for humanitarian aid and the non-humanitarian goods needed for the reconstruction of properties and infrastructure."

The United Nations - which the Daily News calls upon to stop the upcoming flotilla -reported in January 2010 that Gaza is in "socio-economic crisis" and is suffering from the "severe deterioration of the already precarious living conditions of the people in Gaza and have further eroded a weakened health system." The UN's World Health Organization warns specifically that the brutal Israeli blockade - a clear example of collective punishment, which is illegal under international law - and the 2008-2009 winter massacre of Gaza "have led to on-going deterioration in the social, economic and environmental determinants of health." The report notes that "many specialized treatments, for example for complex heart surgery and certain types of cancer, are not available in Gaza and patients are therefore referred for treatment to hospitals outside Gaza" continuing that "many patients have had their applications for exit permits denied or delayed by the Israeli Authorities and have missed their appointments. Some have died while waiting for referral."

The UN also points out that "there are often shortages" of drugs and disposables "on the ground mainly because of shortfalls in deliveries" and that "[d]elays of up to 2-3 months occur on the importation of certain types of medical equipment, such as x-ray machines and electronic devices. Clinical staff frequently lack the medical equipment they need. Medical devices are often broken, missing spare parts or out of date."

Furthermore, the report notes that sixteen health workers were killed and twenty-five injured while on duty by Israeli strikes. Also, fifteen of Gaza's twenty-seven hospitals, forty-five of its 110 Primary Health Care services, and twenty-nine of its 148 ambulances were either damaged or destroyed in the Israeli assault. None of these facilities have been able to be repaired in the past two years due to the fact that Israel refuses to allow building materials into Gaza.

In June 2010, the WHO said that medical equipment valued at $20 million, including "CT scanners, X-ray machines, fluoroscopes, infusion pumps, medical sterilization gases, laboratory equipment, UPS (uninterrupted power supply) batteries and spare parts for support systems such as elevators" and which were "urgently needed in Gaza had been piling up for a year waiting for clearance from Israel."

The WHO also renewed its call "to allow for the unimpeded access into the Gaza Strip of life-saving medical supplies, including equipment and medicines, as well as more effective movement of people in and out of the territory for medical training and the repair of devices needed to deliver appropriate healthcare." The statement continued:

"It is impossible to maintain a safe and effective health care system under the conditions of siege that have been in place now since June 2007," Tony Laurance, the head of the WHO's office for Gaza and the West Bank, said in the statement. "It is not enough to simply ensure supplies like drugs and consumables. Medical equipment and spare parts must be available and be properly maintained."

By December 2010, the Ministry of Health in Gaza was warning that "137 types of medicine and 150 of essential medical supplies are out of stock in Gaza, among those supplies are drugs used to treat cancer and kidney patients" and that a mere "37% of required medical supplies reached the Strip this year so far."

Thankfully, the Daily News didn't burden its readers with these annoying facts.

The Daily News editors claim that "the true aim is to provoke a confrontation that serves as a rallying point in a drive to portray Israel as an amoral, oppressive force." Anyone familiar with Israel history knows full well that no artificial provocation is required for Israel to be portrayed as "amoral" and "oppressive." The actions of the Israeli government and military over the past six decades prove that such a depiction is accurate, if not woefully inadequate to describe the war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and institutionalized discrimination necessary to continue Zionist domination of Palestine.

It should also be pointed out that, when mentioning mortars and rockets shot from Gaza into Israel, the Daily News states that the Palestinians were attacking "Jewish soil." Jewish soil? Describing the State of Israel, which was established after years of massive (and illegal) Jewish immigration and months of deliberate and violent ethnic cleansing to eliminate the majority of native Muslim and Christian inhabitants from the area, as "Jewish soil" is disgusting. What does the Daily News think about the 20% of the Israeli population who are Palestinian Arabs and whose ancestors have owned and lived on the land for centuries if not longer? Whose "soil" are they living on?

Lastly, the photograph accompanying the Daily News piece shows a young Palestinian boy stocking shelves in a Gaza grocery store. The obvious implication is that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that the 1.5 million Palestinians there are in no need of humanitarian aid, let alone human rights solidarity.

Naturally, this suggestion ignores the fact that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 61% of Gazans are "food insecure," of which "65% are children under 18 years;" the level of anemia in infants is as high as 65.5%, about 70% of Gazans live on less than $1 a day, 75% rely on food aid, and 60% have no daily access to water. It also sidesteps the fact that, as Rebecca Sargent of the Peace and Collaborative Development Network has noted, "Much of the population remains unemployed and thus have no money to buy supplies for themselves. U.N. Resolution 1860 calls for the unfettered access of aid and commercial goods to Gaza, although it would appear this call has been mostly ignored by the Israeli government's blockade."

The photo of the Gaza grocery store is clearly another piece of propaganda meant to signify to the reader, "hey, with stores like these, can we really believe that Gaza's inhabitants are victims of deliberate deprivation, discrimination, and occupation?"

Apparently, according to Zuckerman's Daily News editors, where there's a market, there's no suffering, right? To answer this question, one need only look at these pictures of the Warsaw Ghetto marketplace in the 1940's:

I suppose, if we are to believe the Daily News editors, there was nothing too offensive going on there, I mean, just look at all those warm coats, high heels, and storefronts!

While the Daily News ends its piece by urging the UN to prevent the upcoming flotilla from sailing to Gaza this June, it is clear that the "perilous propaganda ploy" it warns against is actually its own unadulterated hasbara.

I would like to make one correction. The siege has actually existed in one form or another since 1967. This was in the evidence given by Tamar Feldman from Gisha to the Turkel Commission. Needless to say it did not make it into their report.

If you would like to see more on the errors and omissions in the Turkel Committee Report Part 1 see http://www.redress.cc/palestine/rlightbown20110308

Incidentally the BBC Trust upheld a similar load of garbage in an appeal against a Panorama programme on the Mavi Marmara broadcast in August. The Zionist hydra has long tentacles.

Nice lie. There was no Humanitarian aid on the Mavi and Bronner never said there was.

Of the seven flotilla ships, only four were freight ships. The Challenger 1 (small yacht), the Sfendonh (small passenger boat) and the Mavi Marmara (passenger ship) did not carry any humanitarian aid, except for the passengers' personal belongings. Of the four freight ships - Gaza, Sofia, Defeny and Rachel Corrie - as of June 7, SIBAT had only offloaded equipment from the Defeny.

Thank you for your close reading. Bronner was writing of the entire six-boat flotilla, the Mavi Marmara included, when stating that the "cargo proved unquestionably humanitarian in nature - hospital beds, medicines, clothing."

While it is true that the Mavi Marmara was indeed a passenger ship, your cutting and pasting of a paragraph from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website and seeming reliance on shameless hasbara outfits like Israel National News for your information does your credibility no favors.

Still, I agree that I should not have limited the phrase above (and credited to Ethan Bronner) to only the Mavi Marmara, which - though unintentional - was misleading. The 10,000 tons of aid was the cargo of the entire flotilla, not of the Mavi Marmara alone. You're correct that my attribution of all 10,00 tons of aid to the Mavi Marmara is an error. Credit where credit is due.

As such, I have altered the above sentence in question to read:

Ethan Bronner has admitted that all 10,000 tons of aid goods aboard the flotilla's cargo ships was "unquestionably humanitarian in nature."

[In the article above, I have kept the original "Mavi Marmara" reference with a strike-through to acknowledge the edit; alas, the comment form html does not accept the strike-through tag, so I omitted it here.]

I thank you for pointing this out (your use of the word "lie" notwithstanding) and hope my change clarifies things.

I don't recall stating that. I corrected a misstatement (using the Mavi Marmara as shorthand for the flotilla) which implied something I never intended (that 10,000 tons of aid material was on board the Mavi Marmara alone) - and thanked you for pointing it out to me. That minor correction in no way negates anything else in the article.

Also, I am well aware of "who was carrying what" and am also aware of who the Israeli government claims was carrying what. Even so, I'm unclear as to what relevance this has whatsoever on anything else that I have written.

Incidentally, in what way would not knowing "who was carrying what" be a "cardinal failure" for a reporter? On which day of reporter school do they teach the "who was carrying what" lesson? If someone doesn't pass Who Was Carrying What 101, do they have their shiny reporter badge taken away? Or are you trying to claim that reporters never make errors, which would be a strange thing to suggest? Well-respected publications like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Ha'aretz often issue corrections when mistakes are pointed out. Even rags like the New YorkPost and the Weekly Standard admit to gaffes once in a while. And hey, just because the Jerusalem Post doesn't admit to its mistakes, doesn't mean it doesn't make a lot of them.

Oh, and wouldn't part of being a responsible reporter include acknowledging when an error is made and correcting it?

It is clear you have no interest in truth (if you did, you would welcome my clarification), but rather troll websites in order to promote your sad brand of Zionist apologia.

Your weird (and bigoted) references to "the Palestinian two-step" and to "Arafat" - references which make absolutely no sense, mind you - reveal how pathetic your worldview really must be.

You also failed to note that the Turkish IHH is a group hose primary goal involves financing terrorism:

“Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that he has ‘placed the [IHH Netherlands] on the Dutch list of terrorist organizations and froze its assets, because IHH Netherlands regularly transferred funds to IHH Germany. This organization is banned in Germany because it has raised funds for Hamas. Hamas has been on the EU list of terrorist organizations since 2003.’”

“Citing the EU’s definition of terrorism as “participation in the activities of a terrorist group, including by funding its activities or supplying material resources,” Nirenstein said in a statement that the IHH sponsors terrorism, according to the EU’s criteria.”

“Several investigations and reports testify to the involvement of IHH in global terrorism, and many videos and documents attest to its jihadist attitude... the Turkish organization IHH (Insani Yardim Vafki) [is] one of the main promoters of the Mavi Marmara and responsible for its violent implications.”

I must say, your use of quotes from an article in the Jerusalem Post written by arch-Zionist and perennial war-monger Benjamin Weinthal of the neoconservative think-tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies doesn't do much for your case.

Also, there is a larger discussion to be had here regarding what "material support" actually is, as well as what "terrorism" actually is. I am uninterested in getting into this in the comment section.

For more information regarding the İHH, the Center for American Progress has a pretty good issue brief (which can also be downloaded as a PDF). Also, Iara Lee - a peace activist who was on the Mavi Marmara and whose video footage of the Israeli assault debunked much of the disgusting IDF propaganda regarding what happened that night - wrote this piece regarding the IHH.

I don't expect you to be swayed by these articles and probably won't respond to any more of your comments (since they are not substantive and have begun to bore me), but I thought they should be recorded alongside your continued efforts to slander (libel?) the flotilla and its sponsors.

One question (please don't feel obligated to answer):

When humanitarian goods are allowed into Gaza by Israel, doesn't this serve the purpose of feeding and medicating some members of Hamas and many of their constituents - thereby freeing up resources for Hamas to allocate to their resistance efforts? Would this not constitute "material support" under the ruling of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project? As a result, wouldn't this mean that Israel is directly supporting what you call terrorism?

Melis Tusiray and Michael Werz of the Center for American Progress and Iara Lee of Cultures of Resistance support "Hamas' genocidal agenda"? Gotcha.

I see where you're going with this. Apparently anyone who doesn't regurgitate Likud and IDF talking points and press releases, supports the end of military occupation, promotes equal human and political rights, opposes collective punishment and brutal siege, and encourages adherence to international law is actually supporting "Hamas' genocidal agenda," right?

As Uri Avnery recently pointed out, Hamas "has declared many times that it will accept a peace agreement based on the 1967 lines and signed by Mahmoud Abbas if it is ratified by the people in a referendum or a vote in parliament. Accepting the Palestinian Authority means accepting the Oslo agreement, on which the PA is based – including the mutual recognition of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization."

I wonder, was everyone who actively and ideologically opposed South African Apartheid automatically a supporter of the ANC, its violent resistance, calls for strikes and boycotts, and its 1951 Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws? Was everyone who supported the independence of Northern Ireland a card-carrying member of the IRA and a staunch supporter of all of their resistance tactics? Was everyone who opposed and/or sought to end the 872 day Nazi siege of Leningrad an apparatchik or even just a Communist?

But, oh right, I forgot, according to you anyone who doesn't blindly support the Israeli government and military and endorse the ultimate goals of Zionism (i.e. segregation, ethnic cleansing, expansionist colonialism, and an aggressively militaristic, ethno-religious supremacism) must also be an anti-semitic maniac. Makes sense.

I do have one more question for you: Why do you go to websites that support Hamas? Seems like a strange thing to do.

Unfortunately, you do not see what I am doing. However, you are doing the same as most who are uncritical of Hamas' charter, which calls for genocide. Doesn't matter what Hamas says out of the corner of its mouth, because straight forward Hamas calls for killing Jews. Hamas' charter is not obsolete until they have a new charter. The US constitution allowed slavery. The amended constitution does not. There is no amended Hamas charter.

The ultimate goal of Zionism is the establishment of the Jewish homeland in Israel and the in gathering of exiles. It appears to me that it has been accomplished. Israel has been re-established.

Why read blogs and websites that support Hamas? You don't try to find out everything you can about the group that has sworn to murder every member of your tribe?

By the way, even though we are opposed, I appreciate your willingness to talk. Accidental Jews like Philip Weiss can't stand the heat but won't stay out of the kitchen. He allows all sorts of antisemitism in his comment section but won't allow reasonable dissent.

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"The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."- Milan Kundera

"All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it."- Alexis de Tocqueville

"Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial."- Herman Melville

"Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made."- Franz Kafka

"Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied."- Arthur Miller

"Everyone gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country."- Michel de Montaigne

"Fascism itself can only be turned away if all those who are outraged by it show a commitment to social justice that equals the intensity of their indignation."- Arundhati Roy

"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains."- Rosa Luxemburg

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."- John Steinbeck

"The basic principle, rarely violated, is that what conflicts with the requirements of power and privilege does not exist."- Noam Chomsky"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right." - H.L. Mencken

"The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human." - Aldous Huxley

"Many people would sooner die than think. In fact they do."- Bertrand Russell

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

- Desmond Tutu

"Every empire...tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate."- Edward Said

"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis." - Dante Alighieri

"When fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."- Sinclair Lewis

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious."- Smedley Butler

"The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital... This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations.- Rutherford B. Hayes

"Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk."- John Milton

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."- Max Planck

"With the establishment of a relationship of oppression, violence has already begun. Never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence? How could they be the sponsors of something objective whose objective inauguration called forth their existence as oppressed? There would be no oppressed had there been no prior of violence to establish their subjugation."- Paulo Freire

"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."- Robert M. Hutchins

"I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I see that the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and enduring."- Erich Maria Remarque

"The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding."- Albert Camus

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."- Thomas Paine"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men."- Edward R. Murrow

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal."- Emma Goldman

"Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors."- Lewis H. Lapham"We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane."- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr."The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."- Gloria Steinem

"Activism is my rent for living on this planet."- Alice Walker

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."- Woody Allen

The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.- Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities)

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